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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26145922">What We Deserve</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HybridOwl/pseuds/HybridOwl'>HybridOwl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Hobbit - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Guardian Angels, Gratuitous Capitalization, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:22:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,062</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26145922</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HybridOwl/pseuds/HybridOwl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo had a good thing going as Guardian of The Shire, beloved by Management as the sort to do his job well and not make waves. </p><p>And then he had been assigned Thorin Oakenshield. </p><p>(in which Bilbo is something like an angel, Thorin is something like a pain in the ass, and they have something like a love story)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>107</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What We Deserve</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My internet and I are in a battle to the death, hopefully this posts this time.</p><p>(Is this fandom dead? Hopefully not. Anyway, hope you enjoy!)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They decided to make do without a burglar.</p><p>Bilbo would bash his brain against a tree, if he had anything corporeal to bash with. Even if he could, it would only make the Oakenshield Headache worse.</p><p>Before being assigned to Oakenshield, Bilbo had had a great life. A well respected Guardian, he was able to keep the whole of the Shire in check, while his colleagues were running around barely managing a handful of charges.</p><p>And then the call had come down from on high. Changes, it said. Reshuffling job postings, it said. Promotion, it said.</p><p>What it didn't say was that after barely a century of managing Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, the previous Guardian had had a nervous breakdown and had to be moved somewhere towards the back lines, as it were, taking care of things no more important and threatening than rabbits.</p><p>No one told Bilbo this, however. After more than five hundred years watching over the shire with only three, count them, three, Unplanned deaths, Bilbo had thought he would be able to keep one wayward dwarf well in hand, and still have time to pip back to headquarters every day for a round of gossip in the forum.</p><p>He was wrong. Oh, so wrong.</p><p>Thorin Bloody Oakenshield had a death wish. Or had a Planned death hanging over his head that no one had told Bilbo about.</p><p>Because nobody was supposed to have 9 near death experiences in a span of 6 hours. No one. And yet, Thorin had managed it. More than once, in fact.</p><p>It would take a miracle of the type that Bilbo hadn't the clearance for to keep Thorin truly safe (or something that prevented him from moving from a padded room ever, ever again), and that was before cousin Gandalf convinced the fool dwarf king to go steal from a dragon.</p><p>"Now Bilbo," Gandalf had said out of the corner of his mouth once Thorin had gone on his way from their meeting, "this will be good. He will be far safer in Erebor if this is successful, making your job easier."</p><p>"So first you decide to make it impossible?!" Bilbo had yelled at his cousin, well past furious, and Gandalf winced, covering it up when the barkeep looked his way with a cough and a smile.</p><p>And bugger that, too. It was totally unfair that while Bilbo would stop being a Guardian if he dared take corporeal form, dared made himself heard by mortals in anything but dreams, Gandalf, just from being made a wizard, got to swan about telling people things and touching things and- and eating things, just like any other mortal, but with most of the Guardian powers to boot.</p><p>Terribly unfair.</p><p>He would have yelled at Gandalf some more, but he felt that tug again; Thorin was in danger, again, probably about to be nearly assasinated, again, and it was Bilbo's job to wake him up just in the nick of time with a furtive warning in his dreams.</p><p>And if the warning came out more in the form of swearing loudly at the dwarf to get his annoyingly firm backside out of bed, well, there was only so much indignation Bilbo could take at one time.</p><p>Like this latest nonsense.</p><p>Skipping the burglar, with Gandalf's blessing. On a quest to burgle from a dragon.</p><p>Cousin Smaug was an ass, it was true, but he wasn't an idiot. He'd know a dwarf was coming into his halls, and incinerate the lot, even if there was a secret door to go along with the secret map.</p><p>But, well, Bilbo had to admit they had tried to find someone. Gandalf had gone straight to Hobbiton, and asked around for half a year with no luck finding a single one of Bilbo's former charges to go with. Not that Bilbo blamed them, he wouldn't go on this mad venture either, given half the chance.</p><p>He had even told Management so. Management ignored him.</p><p>Probably because he still hasn't requested a transfer, despite everything. Even in his most disgruntled moments, Bilbo had to admit that Thorin, frustratingly, was someone worth protecting. Infuriating, prideful, stubborn, and deeply near death-prone, but so, so worth it.</p><p>Not that he had a crush or anything. That would be unprofessional.</p><p>Anyway, here they were, 13 dwarves, a Wizard, and a Guardian, leaving for their quest, no burglar.</p><p>This was going to go just swimmingly.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>Bilbo could understand the fuss about the rain. He knew the spring temperatures were not the highest, and the rain was coming down rather hard. The littlest one, Ori, was sniffling, as quietly and unobtrusively as possible. It was awful to watch, even the look on Thorin's face of grim determination belaying his own discomfort. The dratted dwarf would probably catch his royal death.</p><p>So when Dori asked Gandalf to do something about the rain, Bilbo subtly created a moving pocket around them, where the leaves of the trees ever so slightly covered their path from the worst, and the rain that did come through was a bit warmer.</p><p>The dwarves mostly didn't seem to notice, though Ori stopped sniffling quite so much. Thorin tilted his head up into the new rain, eyes closing for a moment before going back to riding.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>Trolls. Bloody trolls. What was he supposed to do about bloody trolls? Especially with the threat to Fili and Kili's life and limb after they tried to free the ponies.</p><p>He tapped his foot, thinking. He had already turned down the heat on the fire, but he had to stall. What would stall Trolls?</p><p>He weakened one of the supports on the great big pot the trolls had, making it creak and then topple over all on it's own, sloshing water everywhere.</p><p>"Oy, look at this nonsense. Now we'll have to fill it and boil it all over again." The one that might loosely be called a cook, said.</p><p>Bilbo heaved a sigh of relief.</p><p>"We could just squish 'em instead." Said another helpfully. Bilbo swore at him.</p><p>Thinking fast, Bilbo floated the idea of stalling toward Balin, one of the cleverer and more diplomatic of the dwarves. That seemed to work well, at least until Gandalf made it back and split the boulder, saving the sorry lot.</p><p>"That," Thorin said darkly, once he had gotten out of his sack and cornered his nephews, "was the most idiotic thing I have ever seen you do."</p><p>The nephews shrank in shame, heads bowed.</p><p>"We're sorry uncle." They said, but Thorin just shook his head.</p><p>"If you can't think, you should not be on this quest!" Thorin growled, and stomped off in the direction the others had gone in search of the troll hoard.</p><p>Bilbo saw Thorin's hands were shaking, though.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>That night, Bilbo slipped into Thorin's dreams; as suspected, he was replaying the troll incident, always ending with some gruesome end for his nephews, or some other one of his company.</p><p>"Was I too harsh to them?" Thorin asked from where he gazed at the memory, and Bilbo thought for a moment.</p><p>He sent comfort to his charge, but half scolded, "You should still tell them you did not mean it, though, that you were worried. They'd appreciate it."</p><p>He made sure, as always, to try and copy Thorin's own thought patterns so he didn't notice a difference, but the Dwarf King nodded.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>The flight to Rivendell had been a tad nerve wracking, but they all made it safe. Bilbo took the opportunity for most of the time they were there to wander about a bit, chatting occasionally with Gandalf and the Guardians that watched over a handful of the elves, but mostly just enjoying a place where his charge wasn't going to die from anything but tripping and breaking his own fool neck.</p><p>He was around when Thorin listened stormily to Elrond and Gandalf talk about his heritage, and that left him feeling weird and defensive. Bilbo had guarded Elrond when he was very small elfling indeed, and it is hard to see him so harsh, especially towards Bilbo’s new charge.</p><p>In his wandering, he specifically avoided Galadriel, who always stared right at him like she could see him and hear him and found him just so damn cute. It was awful. People of Middle Earth weren't supposed to look at him like that. It was the sort of thing that could get him kicked out.</p><p>Still, he looked mournfully back at that safe space. They could be happy there, he thinks, even if Thorin was too blinded by elf-hatred to feel the same. And there was still the quest to follow.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>After the bit with the giants, aiding the desperate jumps of the dwarves with some of the storms' wind, but still feeling tight in the chest when it looked like some of those dwarves would be crushed; he grit his teeth and shoved the leg of the giant with the wind, shifting it just enough to protect the travelers. It used up far more of his magic than he should have, and he felt the burn of anger from the sky; Management had noticed he hadn't been using his powers for Thorin's protection alone, then.</p><p>Watching over people not assigned to you was a punishable offence, especially using The Big Boss's magic to do it. He was going to get chewed up quite badly next time he went in for a check in, if he ever was allowed back Up at this rate.</p><p>But Bilbo had become very fond of the company, couldn't just turn away from them when they had need. He knew that was the way towards a Fall, but he didn't know what else to do.</p><p>In a terrible mood, instincts itching at the danger they had just gone through (and something else, but he had used up so much magic, he didn't know-) he slipped into Thorin's dreams, only to find the dwarf pacing inside them.</p><p>"Where were you?" Thorin snapped, furious, and Bilbo flinched back; Thorin had never talked to him so directly before, or with such vehemence.</p><p>"I beg your pardon?" Bilbo couldn't help but say, struggling to take Thorin's thought affect; even as he did, he knew it was a poor job.</p><p>"Half my company was about to die and you-you did nothing!" Thorin looked around wildly, and Bilbo breathed a silent sigh of relief even as his anger grew. So Thorin couldn't see him. They were in dreams. They weren't breaking any rules. Bilbo would be fine. Still, Bilbo wouldn't be talked to like that, not with all Bilbo was doing, everything he was putting on the line for this stupid, arrogant creature.</p><p>"It is not my job to coddle you or anyone else. I do what I must, and you'd do well to remember it." He said crossly, almost entirely in his own voice, and Thorin scowled.</p><p>"I do not know what Mahal's plans were when he sent you to me, but I'm done. You are nothing but a distraction if you cannot get off your blasted rear and help!"</p><p>Bilbo was about to retort, when he felt a tug.</p><p>"Wake up, Thorin." Bilbo said, warning. It seemed there was quite a bit of danger.</p><p>"I am not done with you." Thorin snarled. "I-"</p><p>Bilbo shoved his magic into one big <strong>"Wake Up!"</strong></p><p>That woke him, and Thorin was moving to stand, snarling at the other dwarves to get up too, but it was too late, the doors to the goblin kingdom opening beneath them.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>Fighting the goblins was awful, Bilbo nudging blow after blow out of the way, gritting his non-corporeal teeth as he used up way more magic than he should use, and he felt the further anger from Management as he helped non-discriminately, feilding this blow from Dori, making sure that plank held steady under Bombur, misdirecting an arrow from Thorin.</p><p>By the time they were out, Bilbo was well and truly tired, and was not ready to be set upon by Azog. Unable to do more than sit there while the wargs shook down the trees, and fire set upon them, he was just beginning to get his strength back when Thorin made the mad rush to Azog by himself, and Bilbo could do nothing about the wargs teeth.</p><p>There was nothing for him to shift, no one he could talk into acting, nothing he could do except watch as his charge died in front of him, unless.</p><p>Unless.</p><p>Shit.</p><p>Bilbo didn't have time to think about it. All he had time to do was cast aside his non-corporeal form and throw himself, mortal, in front of the oncoming warg, skewering it on his celestial sword.</p><p>He scowled, swinging it expertly. "keep your paws off of him!"</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>He was lucky the dwarves recovered quickly, distracting Azog long enough for his cousins The Eagles to come and swoop everyone up. They looked quite surprised to see Bilbo, but the form he had chosen was light enough to be taken by one of the Eagles already carrying a dwarf (Dwalin, as it happened), and Bilbo was still struggling with his new mortal body too much to use his wings.</p><p>On the flight, Bilbo had time to think about what he had done. He had revealed himself, fully and truly, and physically interfered. He was still connected to Above for now, but how long before they cut him off entirely?</p><p>The Eagles set them down on a tall rock formation, Gandalf and Bilbo moving as one towards Thorin when he was dropped, but Gandalf waved him away.</p><p>"You're going to need to conserve your strength, Bilbo." Gandalf said kindly, and Bilbo grudgingly moved back. He was almost focused on Thorin enough that he missed the way the other dwarves stared at him, completely nonplussed. Almost. </p><p>Not that Bilbo blamed them; it was not every day a hobbit (the first form Bilbo had latched onto when he had transformed) appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the wilds. Bilbo would have to explain eventually, but for now, Bilbo had more pressing concerns.</p><p>Thorin gasped as the healing set in, sitting up.</p><p>"The company?" He asked Gandalf.</p><p>"All fine. And it seems we have a little addition to our number." Gandalf said, nodding to Bilbo.</p><p>Thorin looked at Bilbo, who refused to drop his gaze. Thorin had just nearly died. He would not be cowed with how badly their last (and only) conversation had gone.</p><p>Thorin stood, ignoring Gandalf's hand up, and walked over to Bilbo. They were silent for a moment.</p><p>"...You look more like a grocer than a Guardian." Thorin said, wryly, and Bilbo puffed up in indignation.</p><p>"Listen here you-!" but Bilbo couldn't continue. He felt it.</p><p>His connection to Above ripped suddenly and painfully, leaving him alone in his body. Bilbo's knees buckled, and Thorin tried to catch him, but ended up sinking to the ground too from his injuries. </p><p>Bilbo could hear Thorin and the rest yelling in alarm, but Bilbo could only sit there in shock. That was it, then. He was a Fallen. He would go through the grace he had right now, and then he would...</p><p>Bilbo shook himself; he wouldn't, couldn't focus on that end.</p><p>He took a deep breath, looking up at the dwarves around him, Thorin still holding him.</p><p>"Are you alright, Guardian?" Thorin asked, and Bilbo snorted.</p><p>"I am no guardian. Not anymore. Bilbo. You can all call me Bilbo." Bilbo said, tiredly.</p><p>"Bilbo." Thorin said quietly, and Bilbo felt rather doomed at the way his body warmed at hearing his name on Thorin's lips.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>He managed to recover enough to walk down the rock himself, tripping every once in a while when his coltish new legs forgot how they were supposed to work. Still, Bilbo persevered, explaining his predicament along the way to the company; how he was a former guardian, he had interfered too heavily, and now he was kicked out. and if Thorin kept looking at him, face unreadable, that was Thorin's business.</p><p>He had just managed to get his legs to cooperate, when they were forced to run when they heard the wargs, Gandalf leading the way somewhere. Bilbo immediately recognized Beorn in bear form, but as he was very clearly trying to get to them to eat them, the recognition didn't do much good.</p><p>They holed up in the shapeshifters cabin, the dwarves helping themselves to blankets and Bofur hesitantly handing Bilbo one, which Bilbo found unexpectedly kind. The company had been rather quiet around him so far, seeming to process things, and still sent him looks somewhere between suspicion and awe.</p><p>But that quiet broke before bed that night.</p><p>"So, whose Guardian were ye?" Gloin asked, apropos of nothing, and Bilbo hesitated to answer. should he say? Thorin didn't speak up, though he had clearly heard, so perhaps he was letting Bilbo decide.</p><p>"The companies, in general, Thorin's, in specific." Bilbo eventually rested on. In the end, it had been true after all; he had adopted them all as his charges, and he wasn't going to stop that now. "I'd only been assigned to him for less than a decade, though. Before that I was in charge of The Shire."</p><p>Ori blinked, surprised. "The whole of The Shire? But that's thousands of people, surely."</p><p>"Tens of thousands, but they're hobbits, peaceful folk, easy to care for." Bilbo qualified; really, in the Grand Scheme of things, it hadn't been that special. But this sent a murmur of approval through the group, and they started talking amongst themselves, like they had before Bilbo's sudden appearance.</p><p>Bilbo huddled down into his blankets and listened, content, drifting off to sleep for the first time.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-ooooooo-</p>
</div><p>Beorn was not impressed with all the dwarves in his house, but seemed fond enough of Bilbo, whether he recognized Bilbo was a Fallen or just a curiosity as a Hobbit. He let them stay to recover from their wounds, and Bilbo took the opportunity to learn about his body a little more.</p><p>Eating, as he had suspected, was amazing, as was taking baths. Flower petals felt smooth, bark rough, and fabric somewhere in between. Talking and people listening, and being able to converse with them was a special pleasure. He fit into the company quickly, everyone startled at first that he knew so much but accepting it and moving on graciously.</p><p>It was only his former charge that seemed to keep his distance.</p><p>But Bilbo could handle that. He hadn't been expecting anything more, not really. He and Thorin had not exactly had a non-contentious Guardianship.</p><p>He was surprised, then, when Thorin came to sit by him on the bench in Beorn's garden on their last day, staring out over the garden in that exasperatingly majestic way the dwarf had. Bilbo was just about to give up on conversation when Thorin spoke.</p><p>"You seem to be handling this well." Thorin said, quietly. Bilbo shrugged.</p><p>"I've lived a long time; while I didn't think I would Fall, I've watched enough to know the basics. To be fair though, this is kind of a safer environment to learn, at least for now. The couple of days off has been nice."</p><p>"I'd guess not having to watch over me anymore is a great relief." Thorin said, and at Bilbo's snort, Thorin looked at him. "Something funny?"</p><p>"Nothing just-" Biblo stopped, pulling out the pipe Bifur had carved him and putting some of the leaf from Beorn in it as he spoke, fighting down what he hoped to Management wasn't a blush. "What makes you think I'm done watching over you?"</p><p>"You aren't a guardian anymore. And you said before to the company that I was only your charge for a little while."</p><p>"Doesn't change my job. What else am I going to do down here, take up knitting?" Bilbo jokes, but this only seemed to make Thorin tense. Bilbo sighed. "I can't read your feelings anymore, Thorin, if you want me to know something you're going to have to say it."</p><p>"If you follow us only out of obligation-" Thorin began after a moment, but Bilbo, seeing where this was going, stopped him, putting a hand on his shoulder. Thorin stopped entirely, staring at him. Bilbo felt the warmth of him through his fingers, and resisted flexing his hand at the sensation. </p><p>Now that he thinks about it, this might be the first time he had touched Thorin since The Eagles dropped them off.</p><p>"I go with you because I choose to do so. It's... strange, to have that choice, but now that I have it, I find my course has stayed true." He doesn't say 'I'd always choose you,' because putting the unwanted feelings of a Fallen on top of Thorin's already full plate would be a bit too much to ask. Bilbo clears his throat, pulling his hand away. "I'll have to conserve energy, but I'm glad I'm on the quest. You deserve to have your homeland back."</p><p>"Conserve energy?" Thorin repeated, latching onto the least convenient part he could possibly latch onto.</p><p>"Well, I have a limited amount, now. I'll use what I can for the quest, but I'm going to have to be careful not to use all of it."</p><p>"What happens if you use too much?" Thorin asked, quiet. Bilbo holds back a sigh, but doesn't avoid the answer like he wants to.</p><p>"I do what all mortals eventually do." Bilbo says, shrugging, not feeling nearly so nonchalaunt but hoping it didn't show. "But if I'm careful, it will be centuries from now, even with how little I have left."</p><p>"Then we must be sure to be careful."</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>Gandalf leaves them at the former Greenwood, which turns out to be good for him because the woods are awful. They wander around for weeks, eventually losing the path. When they are set upon by spiders, Bilbo uses more than a little magic to go invisible, releasing his fellows from their webbed cages and fighting a few spiders himself before the elves come.</p><p>Even though he's burning through days of energy, he stays invisible, following. He looks for a way to release them; weakening the locks won't work, it would take a millennia of forced time for them to break down.</p><p>After a month, he manages the barrels, and staggers a bit when he drops his invisibility; he didn't want to think of how long he had lost just from this. He of course releases Thorin first, who to Bilbo's surprise grabs him, checking him over for injury with a pinched expression before letting him move on to the next dwarf.</p><p>The orc battle with the barrels happens, and Bilbo expends a lot of energy preventing an arrow from hitting Kili. All told, when Thorin asks him how much energy he used, Bilbo refused to say.</p><p>He's pretty sure Thorin guesses it's bad anyway, but that he had gone from centuries to a handful of decades in a month was not something he wanted on Thorin's head.</p><p>He's very, very surprised when Thorin takes his hand.</p><p>"I want you to stay around for a while." Thorin said, and leaned forward to kiss Bilbo.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>Cousin Smaug recognized him as a Fallen when he saw Bilbo in the treasure room, and even going invisible again wasn't enough to stop the dragon's mockery and ire. Bilbo sweeps up the Arkenstone, and after watching Laketown burn and his cousin die by black arrow, he thinks about giving the gem to Thorin, wants Thorin to have it. But something is wrong, very wrong with his charge, and so Bilbo keeps it.</p><p>Thorin grows suspicious of his kin and company, ordering them to search at all hours. Except Bilbo.</p><p>Bilbo he allows to wander freely, though he often half orders, half asks Bilbo to stay by his side. They shared the occasional kiss, but it never felt right, not like it had outside Laketown. When the mithral shirt comes, he knows it's meaning (how could he not?) but accepts the token of engagement all the same, even as he lies to Thorin about the stone, even as Thorin's mind pulls further away.</p><p>But after he is given the mithril, Bilbo sees the dragon sickness in Thorin and hears the echo of Smaug's voice in his former charge, and is terrified. He doesn't have the magic left to remove this curse from Thorin, not even two decades worth of magic left to him after dealing with smaug, and can only watch him walk away with a sick feeling in his throat.</p><p>He had to make this right.</p><p>He leaves to barter with the Arkenstone that night, seen by Bofur who assumes he's running away for good, but Bilbo is not; he's just doing what he has always done, and watching over his charge.</p><p>He both is and isn't surprised to see Gandalf when he goes to barter, but is definitely surprised when his cousin grabs his arm.</p><p>"You must not go back there, Bilbo. Thorin is not well, and his affections for you will not protect you." Gandalf said. Bilbo scoffed, more than willing to take the risk, but Gandalf scowled at him, concern in his eyes. "You don't have much time left."</p><p>"Then I will spend it how I should; protecting my friends." Bilbo said with finality, and left.</p><p>It made nearly getting thrown off the wall even more terrible when Thorin cried furious tears as he did it.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>When Bilbo hears the horn signaling that Thorin and the company are coming out to fight, his stomach sinks. Even with all this death, he had hoped his group would be safe.</p><p>When he heard of the second army, he knew he had to get to them.</p><p>"You will never make it in time!" Gandalf had yelled at him, and Bilbo uses his energy to bring out his wings.</p><p>"Watch me." Bilbo said.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>He does get there in time, mentally counting down the days he was losing as he guided the boys together and away from Bolg, to where Legolas and Tauriel were so they could fight side by side and live.</p><p>1 month.</p><p>He healed a blow Dwalin got so he could go after Thorin, fighting Azog beside him.</p><p>3 weeks.</p><p>It wasn't enough.</p><p>"No no, no." Bilbo said, panicked, holding onto Thorin, Dwalin was still fighting Azog, and Bilbo couldn't feel the tears streaming down his own face, his first tears, as he reached with his magic and yanked Azog's very existence to shreds.</p><p>1 week.</p><p>Thorin's body was fighting him, tendrils of Death already swirling around him. Bilbo could feel it; this was a Planned death, not something that could be fought.</p><p>But Maker blessed if Bilbo wasn't going to try.</p><p>Bilbo grit his teeth and pushed with all he had.</p><p>Gone.</p><p>He closed his eyes as Thorin gasped in a breath.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>Bilbo opened them, looking around the gray area of nothingness that awaited the Fallen, the realm of shadows. And surprised to see not just Management, but the Big Boss.</p><p>He bowed.</p><p>"My lady." he said to Yavanna, creator of the Guardians. She looked down at him.</p><p>"It seems you take pleasure in disobeying me, Bilbo." She said, and it hummed through Bilbo's soul. Bilbo couldn't read her expression, didn't dare look at her face. </p><p>Bilbo shook his head.</p><p>"No pleasure, my lady." He said. And it was the truth. Management, maybe, but The Big Boss? Never.</p><p>"Then why did you allow yourself to fall?"</p><p>"...I love him." Bilbo admitted, and it felt like a relief to finally say it. He may have been in love with Thorin since the first moment he was assigned to him. But it wasn't just Thorin. "I love all of them, in their way. They deserve to live, even if I had to Fall, even if I had to pass to the Realm of Shadows."</p><p>He expected to get reprimanded, to be told the greater plan was more important. That was what Management would have done. He could see Management gearing up to say just that.. Instead, when nothing came, he dared to looked up, and saw Yavanna smiling.</p><p>"I agree. That's why I assigned them to you." Yavanna said gently, and Bilbo blinked in surprise. "This mission called for above and beyond the call, and I need someone who would do that. You are an exemplary Guardian, Bilbo. So good I would like to give you a gift."</p><p>"A gift?" Bilbo repeated, voice cracking. he was supposed to pass to shadow, not-</p><p>"You will come back to being a Guardian... eventually. But first you will spend the rest of the life of the mortal Thorin Oakenshield in Middle Earth, by his side. Does that sound like a sufficient reward?" Yavanna asked, voice laced with mirth, and Bilbo couldn't help a laugh also, nodding. "Good. Now stand."</p><p>Bilbo did. And when The Goddess offered Bilbo her hand, he took it, feeling magic flood into him, taking him back to the mortal realm.</p><p>"This is more than I deserve." Bilbo admitted, softly, even as the world shifted around him. Yavanna shook her head.</p><p>"No Bilbo, this was exactly what you deserve." She said as he was disappearing. "Not every Guardian has what it takes to keep Thorin Oakenshield alive. Somewhat death prone, that soul."</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>He woke up again in a tent. He looked around, seeing Thorin in a chair next to his bed, asleep with paperwork on a desk next to him. When Bilbo moved to sit up, though, Thorin woke with a jolt, looking around wildly before his eyes settled on Bilbo. He stared.</p><p>"You shouldn't sleep like that, you'll catch your death." Bilbo said helpfully. Thorin made a choking noise, and leaned forward and kissed Bilbo.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-oooooo-</p>
</div><p>There were some inconveniences to being mortal, to be sure. Colds, for instance. Stubbed toes. Having to wake up to pee.</p><p>But there was also waking up Thorin's arms, eating meals with the company, feeling loved.</p><p>He was able to stand beside Thorin, helping rebuild Erebor, keeping his beloved alive, conversing and eating and living, until the end of their days.</p><p>And it was the best gift he could have asked for.</p>
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